Page 141 - Through a glass brightly

Many thanks to those of you who got in touch regarding the stabbings in Glasgow. The incident has come out of the blue and has yet to be explained. Jenny very kindly looked up where it happened and noticed the similarity between George Street in the centre of the city and Great George Street where I live in the West End. Originally, my street was in Hillhead and was simply George Street but when this area was absorbed into the city the word ‘Great' had to be added to distinguish our road from the road in the city. This was particularly important because George Street runs into George Square which is at the heart of the city. I haven’t heard the pundits today but an excellent comment from yesterday suggested that tensions were running high because the asylum seekers had been rounded up and housed in one of our, obviously, good hotels (the Radisson). Incidentally, all our “beggars” were also rounded up at the beginning of the Lock Down and similarly housed in empty hotels. There seems to have been some controversy about how the asylum seekers were being treated but this wouldn’t explain why someone would stab them out of the blue. That sounds more like someone who is jealous of the asylum seekers being treated to the luxury of a good hotel. Unfortunately, although are allGlasgow is now a cultural city of some renown its reputation from the gang-land of the 1960s still survives.
But enough of this – back to school life. I actually do remember quite a bit about the “sex education” we received at school. Of course, it was nothing like as explicit as today’s youngsters are given – if I see one more condom going on a banana – – – – –! It’s a lesson in one of our curriculum programs and all schools seem to think it will make a good lesson when the inspector calls! However, I remember Mrs Traynor explaining what happened with rabbits and leaving it to us to make the connection which, actually, we did! I also remember a lesson on the care of our hair – “A woman’s crowning glory”! And for some odd reason I also remember having a full cosmetic make-up session with someone who came to school. I particularly remember this because my father wasn’t very happy about it! And, shock! horror! I can remember a group of girls talking about how long a penis was when “excited” (as the term was) and measuring this on a ruler and, when I say “our” group turned away in disgust I can’t, of course, remember who was in “our” group. But I also remember sitting in the cloakroom after school had long finished and Miss Smith coming along and wanting to tell us off for not going home but remarking that we were the kind of girls that the school appreciated. I can’t remember her exact wording but we got the message – well we must have done since I am remembering this 60 years later. I took her to mean that there were other girls that were less, shall I say, naïve than we were.
On Thursday, we had our first neighbours get together at the “Green” at the back of our tenements. Our tenements consist of three “closes” and we share what were once the three “greens” at the back. One of the sections has been decked and there is a pleasant area with bench seating where we can gather for BBQs etc. It's is nothing like as lovely as the gardens and streams which Daphne, Jenny, Val et cetera have described but it does provide space for us to get together. On this occasion, it was to celebrate the student who studied in my house for a month getting a first in his degree. (I rather think that he would have got a first anyway but I would like to think that I contributed in my own small way!) One of the notable aspects is that we laughed, and laughed, and laughed till we were aching with laughter. I don’t think that I have laughed in this way since the Lock Down began. A student from Glasgow University, who is taking her master’s degree in something or other, has interviewed a number of us about old people’s perception of the difference between virtual social space and physical social space. I had initially been raving about how well we had adapted to our Zoom meetings, to emails such as ours, to the provision of movies on our church website et cetera et cetera. But after our party at the back I realise that nothing measures up to the sheer laughter of actually
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